Fury blazing in her eyes, she banged one fist hard on the table, bellowing at Arch, ‘What d’yer mean, that wife of yours is turning down me offer?’
He took a deep breath, facing his nemesis the courage those two pints had momentarily given him rapidly vaporising. Tremulously he responded, ‘Look, Mam, it’s not like Aidy doesn’t appreciate the sacrifice you’re prepared to make for us. When I told her she was … well … speechless at your kindness.’ Which was true, she had been speechless, but at the gall of it. ‘But it’s like this, you see. She’d promised her mam that if anything should happen to her, then Aidy would make sure she took good care of her gran and the kids.’
‘And that promise means more to her than the promise she made you when she married yer, always to put you first?’ his mother screeched back.
‘No, ’course it doesn’t. But we promised to do right by each other through good and bad, so I have stand by Aidy through this bad time of hers, don’t I?’
Pat wagged one fat finger at him. ‘And, like I pointed out to you when I first put me idea to you, do you really want to take on the responsibility of raising someone else’s family? I’ll tell you again, as it seems that thick head of yours ain’t took it in … you go along with this and you’ll never have any money to call yer own. By the time yer’ve forked out for keeping that lot out yer wage, you’ll have n’ote left, not even a few coppers for a pint each week. Those clothes yer wearing will have to last for years. You’ll never have any peace and quiet with them noisy kids, and Bertha Rider might get around all right on her pins just now, but what about when she can’t and is housebound? Then yer won’t even be able to speak to Aidy in private, except in yer bedroom, without her ear-wigging. And when she gets to that stage, Aidy will have to give up working to look after her, and then yer won’t have her wage coming in.
‘You was hoping to start a family of yer own some day. Well, yer can kiss that goodbye for the foreseeable future. By the time yer can afford to, you’ll both be too old. You’ll be expected to fork out for those two gels’ weddings when they get married …’ Pat stopped her tirade, having temporarily run out of obstacles to frighten her son with. Her mind whirled frantically. She had already given up the tenancy on this house, bragged to all the neighbours that the Nelsons were moving upmarket, so there was no going back. Thankfully a couple more obstacles then presented themselves ‘And what about …’
He snapped at her, ‘All right, Mam, you’ve made your point.’ And she certainly had. Arch thought the world of his wife’s family and had been fully prepared to help Aidy support them, but now, thanks to his mother, it had really hit home just what he was about to undertake and he wasn’t at all sure if he really wanted to abandon his own plans for the future in favour of the bleak picture Pat had just painted.
Pat detested being interrupted when she was in full flight, and particularly in this instance when she was so very desperate to manipulate her son into doing her bidding. Before he had a chance to try to avoid her, she lunged at him and slapped him full force across his head, screaming at him, ‘Don’t you dare tell me to shut up!’
Rubbing his smarting head and fearing another slap was about to follow, Arch cried out, ‘I’m sorry, Mam, I didn’t mean to.’
‘I should think not. Now, you get back to that fucking mouthy wife of yours …’
Before he could control himself, Arch interjected, ‘Don’t call Aidy that, Mam.’
The feared second slap came then, but much harder than the first, leaving a handprint on the side of his face. ‘I’ll call her what I bloody like! To me she is a fuckin’ mouthy bitch. She’s no respect for me at all as her mother-in-law, looks down her nose at me she does, and she ain’t no better than I am. Now go be a man for a change. Tell her you ain’t moving into her mother’s house and working your guts out to keep them all, just to please her. I’m gonna get on